Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

Members of the Scrutiny Committee are invited to consider the parameters for a piece of work around mental health, as per the decision of the Council Meeting on 16 August 2012.

Representatives from partner agencies have been invited to the meeting to assist members in their discussions.

Officer contact: Jonathan Vali, 0161 474 3201, jonathan.vali@stockport.gov.uk

The Chair invited the Scrutiny Committee to consider areas for further investigation and discussion as part of the planned Scrutiny Review of Mental Health.

Gina Evans (Mental Health Commissioning Lead, NHS Stockport), Dr Nij Hussain (Mental Health lead, Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group) and Sarah Newsam (Head of Health & Wellbeing, Stockport Council) and Dr Stephen Watkins (Director of Public Health) attended the meeting and provided background information about mental health services in Stockport and challenges and opportunities for service delivery and mental health more generally.

The following areas were highlighted:

·         Since the ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ Scrutiny Review in 2008, there had been significant improvement in service delivery following increased investment. This had resulted in improvements in recovery rates, reduced waiting lists and improvements against performance indicators, though there remained significant scope for further improvement.

·         Service provision in Stockport was heavily skewed toward patients with complex needs, rather than the more prevalent mild and moderate conditions, many of whom were being managed through their GP rather than a specialist service.

·         Work was on-going to widen access to services, particularly young people through Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, and to address the links with complex medical conditions. Pilots were being undertaken to improve mental health assessments as part of the discharge from acute care including A&E .There was a national driver for improvements in the life expectancy of those with severe mental health issues as part of the Nation Outcomes Framework.

·         The challenge for commissioners was to increase capacity in the system, particularly for the moderate to mild need, through more cost effective treatments, which often could be delivered in the community.

The Scrutiny Committee discussed the issues raised. The main threads from the discussion were:-

·         The link between mental health, physical health and general wellbeing/ integration, particularly through the impact on employment, and the impact of complex mental health conditions on life expectancy and physical health.

·         Opportunities to increase capacity for simple, community based, people powered care for low to moderate conditions as a means of prevention. Opportunities to create links with Neighbourhood Management.

·         Effectiveness of GP activity, both in referring to mental health services and managing low to moderate conditions.

·         Overcoming stigma of mental health and improving awareness of services and where to seek help for oneself and others.

RESOLVED – That the Mental Health Scrutiny Review investigate in further detail the following areas:-

·         Mental Health support provided to young people through CAMHS, Central Youth and by colleges in Stockport, particularly against the background of high levels of youth unemployment and inactivity. Further consideration of the pilot of expanding  Improved Access to Psychological Services for young people.

·         Support offered by employers to employees struggle with mental ill-health to help them back to work, particularly for the largest public sector employers (Stockport Council and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust) within the context of public sector financial reductions.

·         The impact of mental ill-health on the work of the Police and Probation Services, with particular reference to comments made by the Chief Superintendent of J-Division about prevalence of mental health issues for individuals involved with Police incidents. The development of a Police strategy on mental health should also be explored.

·         Pennine Care NHS Trust’s role in providing mental health services, in particular the RAID (Rapid Access Interface Discharge) initiative and the impact this would have on patients ion acute care and upon discharge.

·         The role of the Third Sector in providing services and support outside of the ‘institutional’ setting; the role of peer support and community/ people powered health (Brinnington NESTA project) in providing alternatives to medicalised care and in responding to low to moderate depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. Opportunities for the use of ICT and mobile technology in providing simple interventions.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to note the dates of further extraordinary meetings that will be convened to conduct the Mental Health Review.

Details of the meeting dates will be circulated at the meeting.

RESOLVED – That further extraordinary meetings of the Scrutiny Committee be held on the following dates in order to undertake the Mental Health Scrutiny Review:-

·         Wednesday, 31 October 2012

·         Wednesday 5 December 2012

·         Wednesday, 12 December 2012

·         Wednesday, 9 January 2013